Politics

Starting Gate: What Is This Election All About?

By Vaughn Ververs

July 15, 2008 / 10:29 AM EDT / CBS News

For the second consecutive day, the war in Iraq will take at least a chunk of the spotlight – barring any more cartoonish magazine covers to debate. Barack Obama is preparing to travel overseas, including stops in Afghanistan and Iraq. John McCain's campaign has to feel that every day spent on Iraq or national security as a good day.

But if there's been one clear message from voters this year, it's that the economy is the number one issue on their minds. It's something that has been pounded home in recent weeks as the bad news continues to flow, with job cuts at GM, fears of bank failures, stock market losses and inflation being the latest in a long string of dominoes to crash onto the front pages.

In the meantime, the candidates continue to hit all the regular spots on the circuit of targeted demographics. Both spoke to the National Council of La Raza, courting the Latino vote and both are following up with appearances at the NAACP convention.

Attention yesterday was diverted to discussion of the New Yorker's questionable magazine cover depicting Obama and his wife, Michelle, as the most outlandish caricatures compiled from the rumor mills. And the chattering class never tires of personality politics, debating whether voters are comfortable enough with Obama to put him in the White House.

There seems to be a disconnect between what voters are concerned about and what the candidates, and those covering the campaign, are talking about. The war in Iraq has dominated our politics for six years now, but it's no longer the dominant issue that it once was. The economy is.

Some things don't change. Both candidates are looking to use this summer as a chance to define themselves and their opponent and shore up their organizations for the fall blitz. But neither candidate appears to be following the model of the winning candidate in the last presidential election dominated by a faltering economy. In 1992, Bill Clinton prevailed in spite of many faults by focusing "like a laser beam" on the economy. Voters seem to have that focus this year but so far, the candidates do not. Will it be an opportunity lost?

Around The Track

Jesse Venutra, who became one of the most successful independent candidates in recent history when he was elected Governor of Minnesota in 1998, ended some of the speculation about his return to politics by announcing he is not running for the Senate this fall "at this moment." Citing family concerns, Ventura said he was not ready to jump back into the public eye despite some strong hints he's dropped in recent weeks. But he left the door ajar slightly for a return to politics at some point in an interview with CNN.

DNC Chair Howard Dean is setting off on a voter registration through GOP territory in the South. He kicks it off in President Bush's hometown of Crawford, Texas Thursday before heading to stops in Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and Georgia in days to come.

McCain will hit Obama on Iraq at an appearance in New Mexico today, reports CBS News' John Bentley, arguing that Obama has made up his mind on policy before he embarks on a visit to the front. "He is speaking today about his plans for Iraq and Afghanistan before he has even left, before he has talked to General Petraeus, before he has seen the progress in Iraq, and before he has set foot in Afghanistan for the first time," McCain will say, according to excerpts released by the campaign. "In my experience, fact-finding missions usually work best the other way around: first you assess the facts on the ground, then you present a new strategy."

Will Mitt Romney's style land him a spot on McCain's ticket? That's the question CBSNews.com's Scott Conroy explores today after interviewing the former Massachusetts Governor in Farmington Hills, Michigan. "This is not the time for an amateur," Romney says when questioned about Obama. "This is the time for a tested, proven professional to lead our country."